Official: Execution took longer because needles pierced veins

Hamilton refused to say whether he thought Diaz died a painful death.

"I am going to defer answers about pain and
suffering until the autopsy is complete,"
Hamilton said during a conference call. He said
further tests may take several weeks.

Hamilton, who performed an autopsy Thursday, said
needles pierced two veins and then went into soft tissue in Diaz's arms.

"More likely than not, the perforation of the
veins occurred very early in this process,"
Hamilton said. "The autopsy findings were
different than any other lethal injections."

Hamilton also said that although there were
records that Diaz had hepatitis, his liver
appeared normal. State corrections officials said
after Wednesday's execution that Diaz had liver
disease, which caused him to metabolize the lethal drugs more slowly.

As a result of the chemicals going into his arms
near the elbow, he had an 12-inch chemical burn
on his right arm and an 11-inch chemical burn on his left arm, Hamilton said.

State Corrections Secretary James McDonough said
the execution team did not see any swelling of
the arms, which would have been an indication
that the chemicals were going into tissues and not veins.

David Elliot, a spokesman for the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said
experts his group had contacted suspected that
liver disease was not the explanation for the problem.

"Florida has certainly deservedly earned a
reputation for being a state that conducts
botched executions, whether its electrocution or
lethal injection," Elliot said. "We just think
the Florida death penalty system is broken from start to finish."

©2006 The Associated Press.

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